Starhawk at Greenfest 2010

Starhawk is on Treehugger.

( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

Living in Northern NY

As of August 6th, Weretoad and I have been residents of Northern NY for a year.  We moved up here from the Mohawk Valley last year.  It's been a bit of a transition.  I've been meaning to write about it.

In many ways, the North Country is similar to the Mohawk Valley.  It's still NY and therefore we witness similar plants and animals.  Each area enjoys productive agricultural areas and lovely rivers and/or canals.  We're a couple hours away from the Utica/Rome area, so I'm not seriously removed from my family and friends.

That said there are differences.  Few people see wild bears in the Mohawk Valley, but they're quite common up here, as are bobcats*.  There have even been lynx and cougar sightings.  This is probably because life up here is more agriculture than in the Mohawk Valley which is heavily urban and suburban except for a few happy exceptions.  The bigger animals haven't been driven out yet.

The rivers in the North Country seem more appreciated.  They are a central part of life here and not just something discussed in 4th grade social studies.  People celebrate our rivers.  Schools incorporate them into their songs.  The St. Lawrence is huge to our tourist industry, and many people who reside in this area enjoy it for sport, beauty, and sustenance.

The urban and suburban centers, while spread apart, have grown on me.  Alexandria Bay is kitschy but the views are beautiful and the swimming area is great on a hot day.  Clayton is one of my favorite places to go.  It seems to be the artistic center of Northern NY with its textile museum, antique boat museum,  studios, galleries, opera house, and art classes.  The view of the St. Lawrence is just as spectacular there.  The dining is also wonderful and vegetarian friendly.

Potsdam, an hour away from us, is a lovely college town full of cafes, international cuisine, boutiques, and access to the Raquette River.  There is art and academia, and it seems very pedestrian friendly.  I wish it were closer so I could live there!

Our city is Watertown.  While smaller than Utica, it seems cleaner and more alive.  There are many shops, restaurants, a huge and ornate library, and a thriving farmers market that is right in the middle of everything on Wednesdays (although parking is hard to find...) and a second, smaller one closer to the community college on Saturdays.

I am finding things to keep me busy outside of work and home.  There are a lot of classes that I would like to take advantage of when I have a little more money - yoga, sustainable/organic gardening, tai chi, weaving, drumming....  I've even found belly dancing classes a few towns away.  The CUUPs chapter is now providing me a place to practice Paganism more regularly with others.  A second New Age shop just opened up here.  The Mustard Seed in Watertown is my vegetarian cafe.  We have an amazing Thai restaurant, a decent Indian restaurant, and now have hibachi!  We are super close to the Saranac Lake, Lake Placid, Ottawa, and Montreal.  The military presence originally gave Northern NY a conservative feel, and I'm sure a majority of people here are very conservative, but the area is more diverse than that.    I'm feeling happier here and more at home, and that's even without me waxing poetic about how I have an amazing job with wonderful people!

There are things I miss.  The proximity to my family and friends is one of them.  My parents, especially my father, keep talking about moving up here.  They really like it.  I wish they would.  I miss seeing them as much as I used to.  There are things about Utica I miss as well: the amazing Stanley theater and the art museum mostly.  The Stanley gets Broadway shows and MWPAI has a spectacular collection as well as their affordable film series.  Weretoad and I used to take advantage of that all the time.  We also miss Minar, the Indian Restaurant in Utica.  The place in Watertown isn't bad - it's quite good really - but the environment at Minar was special.  The staff knew us and the decor was warmer feeling.  Utica also had more independent cafes.  I've found some in Clayton, Canton, and Potsdam, but Watertown only seems to have Paneera and the closest thin in my hometown is a Jrek's Sub Shop.

I also miss how close everything was in the Mohawk Valley.  Unless living in the extreme outskirts, it only took 15-20 minutes to get anywhere.  Up here, we have to drive 30 minutes to Watertown, 30 minutes to A Bay, 40 minutes to Clayton, 40 minutes to Canton, 1 hour to Potsdam...  It's annoying and stressful to someone who wants to be more environmentally friendly.  But even if I were to move to Watertown so I could be closer to everything there, I would then be 30 minutes from my job.  I can't win, aside from moving in between - which is what we'd like to do.  But, as the author of F that S says in her latest blog entry, living in the North Country comes with a lot of driving.  Her entry assuaged my inner guilt, reminding me that the little things one does to help the environment do add up.  Thanks for that!

While I'm certainly not close-minded to moving elsewhere down the road, I am finding myself happy here.  I have days or moments when I am annoyed by the driving, but that's really the worst part, and I want to focus on the best parts, of which there are many.

Here's to another year of exploration and growth in the North Country!


* I've not seen either yet, but my place of employment was on lockdown due to a bear once.


( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

I sometimes feel less than adequate in the Pagan community.  There are so many people who claim the ability to astrally travel, see visions/auras, and sense energy.  I honestly believe that I experienced accidental astral projection once.  I've been able to see visions in my own mind and firmly believe that I saw a spirit of some sort when I was very, very young.  I can go into trance but it often takes a lot of time.  I can sense my own energies but have a harder time sensing them in other people.  I have, but not always.    When I say that, I mean the more subtle energies.  Like most humans, I'm easily able to sense anger, confusion, distrust, etc...  I know not everyone associates those feelings with energy but I do.  I've never seen an aura.  I sometimes think I'm not very good at projecting energy.  I'm a complete novice in divination.

I worry that I will disappoint the elders in my community.  I worry that I will disappoint the Kindreds.  I worry that I'll down-right suck in the ISP.

The rational side of me says that I'm young and inexperienced; that some of these things will come with time and practice*.  Practice is the biggie for me.  I waste so much time *not* practicing!  My time management definitely needs improvement.  My priorities are sometimes off.  Either that or I'm too easily distracted.  Or, very innocently and rightly, I just want to spend time with my husband.  All the same, I need to make more "me time" for my spirituality.  I need to spend less time online, less time playing games, and less time wasting time.

A question to my Pagan friends - do you ever feel this way?  How do you deal with it?







*I know there are some of you shaking your heads right now.  "She's talking about being rational about irrational things!"  :P

Catechism for a Witch's Child

I have no idea where I originally found this, but it was saved in a desktop folder.  I think it's a lovely poem.

Catechism for a Witch’s Child

By J. L. Stanley

When they ask to see your gods

your book of prayers

show them lines

drawn delicately with veins

on the underside of a bird's wing

tell them you believe

in giant sycamores mottled

and stark against a winter sky

and in nights so frozen

stars crack open spilling

streams of molten ice to earth

and tell them how you drink

a holy wine of honeysuckle

on a warm spring day

and of the softness

of your mother who never taught you

death was life's reward

but who believed in the earth

and the sun

and a million, million light years

of being

Worst Movies and Shows Depicting Witches and Pagans

Gus diZerega, Pagan blogger on Beliefnet, posted a list* of what his readers believe to be the worst cinematic (or television) portrayals of Pagans - specifically the much maligned witch.  It was an interesting read.  "Hocus Pocus" was one of the top worst offenders.  Although I completely agree with the argument, it's still a favorite movie of mine.  I love the singing and the over-the-top witches.  It's just a fun story.

I'm ashamed to say that I have yet to see the original (or the remake) of "The Wicker Man."  I'm saving that for Muin Mound.  Apparently it's a tradition to watch it after initiation into the grove!  I've also yet to see "The Craft."  My hubby owns it, so one of these days...  I never really got into "Buffy", mostly because I didn't have cable.  Someone commented about the character Willow and how she was "dismissive of Wiccans as: 'Bunch of wanna blessed be's. Nowadays every girl with a henna tattoo and a spice rack thinks she's a sister to the dark ones.'"  Yes it's a fictitious story, and real magic as we know it is not so spectacular on the movie screen, but it's annoying all the same.  And really, 'the dark ones'?  Give me a break!  I tend to write off anyone who uses that sort of ignorant, goth-tinted language.    I've never seen "Charmed," however I must say I'm always extremely annoyed when someone sees my triquetra tattoo or necklace and thinks I'm a fan, as if the symbol came from the show!  




At the same time, one has to have a sense of humor.  Like I said, "Hocus Pocus" remains a favorite of mine, in part because it is so over the top and makes no references to Wiccans or people who actually practice Paganism.  There's also a wicked little part of me that thinks, if I was going to be some sort of supernatural bad girl, I'd want to be like that. **  And how many Christians find various church-bashing Monty Python skits hilarious?  Most can't help but crack a grin because there is a grain of truth there.  Perhaps it's the same with negative Pagan portrayals.  The characters represent what some in our community have deluded themselves into thinking is real or possible because they have no concept of reality in this plane/dimension/world/existence.  Some Pagans are, for lack of a better term, bat shit crazy.  Some really do see the world through purely dark or purely sparkly white lenses.


So what do you think are some of the best portrayals of Paganism in modern entertainment?  For my readers who are not Pagan, what are the best and worst portrayals of your religion?

*For my lj friends: http://blog.beliefnet.com/apagansblog/2010/03/the-worst-movie-depicting-witches-and-other-pagans.html

** For the record, I don't really want to be that way.  I'm just saying.  It would be cool to (temporarily) change people into cats though.

Spring and Reiki

Happy spring!

Yesterday was the Vernal Equinox and I went down to Utica for a reiki workshop led by friend and reiki master Imagickat.  This was her first class on reiki and the first time she's given attunements.  I must admit, before the class I knew very little about reiki.  She's given me reiki treatments before and they always really helped.  They make me feel at peace, like massage but in a different way.  This will sound strange, but I love to be touched.  Not in a sexual way - but spiritually.  It's warming and comforting.  

Back to what I was saying.  I've been largely ignorant about reiki.  It's something I knew existed and, like I said, even experienced from time to time.  For whatever reason I never bothered to read about it.  This is mostly because I have so many other interests that it never dawned on me.  I always (wrongly) assumed it was derived from Shinto  practices in Japan.  I didn't think it would be appropriate for me to dapple with.  However, I learned that it's adaptable to any spiritual practice and that it was even brought to America (by the Japanese) and changed so as to be better understood by Westerners.  It's also incredibly modern, the practice only having been founded in 1922 by Mikao Usui.  

Learning this put me at ease.  Originally, I felt inclined to attend the workshop because I wanted to learn more about using and sensing energy.  I wasn't sure if I would actually want to go further than learn, but in the end I'm glad I did.  The attunement wasn't orgasmic, but I definitely felt something.  I'm much better able to sense energy within myself at the moment, but practicing yesterday enabled me to better sense it in others.  I was practiced on so much yesterday that my sinuses cleared for a whole day.  I later practiced on willing family members who said they felt at peace, that headaches vanished, and that they felt something sucked out.  I sensed a weird energy in my mum's knees and she said they've been bothering her recently.  It's all very interesting.  

Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend the ritual at Muin Mound in Syracuse.  I was feeling ill yesterday morning and felt that I shouldn't go after an already busy afternoon (especially considering the necessary and long drive home afterwards).  I missed it but it was wonderful to see my old Pagan friends in Utica.  I'm hoping to do a Druidic ritual with my husband later.

I hope everyone has a blessed celebration of spring!  Just ignore the snow we had this morning.  ;)

Valentine's Day

The "writer's block" topic on Live Journal today is about Valentine's Day and I decided to add my two cents.

Given that we're less than a week out from Valentines, how do you feel about the approaching holiday? Will you participate or abstain? If you're not in a relationship, how will you celebrate your single status?

You know... I just don't do V-day anymore. It used to be a big deal to me, in part because a majority of my life was spent in public education where, every year, we spent tons of money on candy and crappy, mass-produced cards that my classmates inevitably threw away shortly after receiving. As someone trying to live a more sustainable life, I can't help but see this highly commercialized holiday as environmentally disgusting. Ok, I'll admit a detail about my personal life - I work with children. Despite my feelings, I don't want to disappoint their wee little hearts. Try to discuss sustainability with an X-Box and toy-obsessed youngster. I dare you. 9 times out of 10, it doesn't change much because, in the end, it's really the attitude of the parents that matter. All the same, I'm not giving cards or plastic bags of candy. They are getting pencils bedecked in hearts because they are useful. Yes, I am that sort of adult.

"But Grey Catsidhe! You're newly married! Aren't you going to have a romantic evening with your hubby?"

Our first date several years ago was on Valentine's Day. A year after that, we started to think about why we were celebrating. We knew we loved each other. But...was that really a good reason to go out and spend money? Especially after the winter holiday season? We were in college and we were broke. When we really thought about it, we realized that Valentine's Day just didn't matter to us. If we were going to spend money on gifts, then let that be on our birthdays and the Solstice. Otherwise... Neither of us are Catholic so St. Valentine doesn't matter to us. I'm a Celtic Recon/Druid, so Lupercalia isn't for me either. And I'm no longer a fan of celebrating religious holidays claimed by secular America just because it's socially traditional. Bah. I'll stick to traditions that I actually find enjoyable!

If you celebrate Valentine's Day, that's fine. Go out and have fun! Maybe even take some advice and see how sustainable you can be while you celebrate. My husband and I? We'll use a holiday as an excuse to get jiggy with it on the 1st of May. Beltaine baby! Sex in the forest! Show the plants how it's done! February is too cold for that anyway... So why even bother? ;)